The Zaab originally settled the coastal village of Jazirat Al Hamra, where at the turn of the 20th century they had established some 500 houses.
They also settled in Kalba, where some 150 families resided, and maintained date palms in the inland village of Khatt on the Jiri plain, where they would decamp to avoid the humidity and heat of the coast during the summer date harvest.
A tidal island, it was split into two sections, the small northern quarter of Umm Awaimir and the southern Manakh.
This movement left behind an almost completely abandoned village which had housed some 2,500 people.
[4] As a result of this movement, the tribe gives its name to an area in Abu Dhabi, Al Zaab.